The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1887-12-08
Success.
fSummerfield Sheaf.l

/ ouCait
Success is the product of we'll util
lied energy. and is to some extent
the parasitic growth of favorable cir.
cumstance. 1t is the golden crown o
kingly effort and the mellow frultage
of auspicious hopes. We smother cir
cumstance yet does it often follow
that an adverse combination of these
like warning elements, spread havoc
through our lives, rather than grow
the sun-kissed rose of prosperity. Sue.
cess at its maximum may be termed
the pecuniary reward ofphysical effort,
the starry zenith of intellectual attain
ment, or the heavenly crown of spir-
itual graces. AS the exponent of these
we cite the noted trio-Vanderbilt,
Lamar and Talmage.
A boy puts off his youth and as
sumes the man and the yellow purse
which he possesses, filled with the finer
siftings of the dust, must be put to
usury, lest idleness eat away its wealth
ere failure mocks at your endeavor.
With resistless spirit and vigorous effort,
he has at length climbed from the low
vale of penury, up arduous stceps and
in the very shadow of iate's projecting
rocks, to the glittering heights Of
mammon. Here the noble soul looks
back into the gloomy valley whence
it came the sun of its riches rises to a
bright meridian in Fortunes heaven,
and upon the widowed home of pover-
ty, is shed the rich beams of true phi
lanthropy. This is the success ofgold.
Likewise, another, from life's low
station, sheds the gaudy plumes of
youth, enters that noontide province
where stern Age smiles more deeply,
and potent Reason claims his rigid
throne. On his hand the tome of
knowledge, and in his eye the shim-
mering rays of a brilliant orb. Fame
throws open the portal of her lofty
temple, and Minerva ushers him into
the many-starred circle Of her high
tribunal. Duty calls his noble spirit
into heroic action; he stands at the
golden helm of the Ship of State, and
amid the blinded storms that menace
the nation, steers her clear Of financial
Scylla or political Gharybdis. The
interest of his fellow-man is his inter-
est. Humanity weeps and he dis
patches Right-his strong-armed mes
serger-and Wrong is banished. His
drastic intellect catches hold the her
culean lever of law; and the moral
world, swinging in sombre canopy
of cloud, is rolled nearer to its sun.
This is the success of mind.
Another, still, rises from the sable
lo~land of obscruity to the cerulean
eminence OF divine revelation. With
that love which burns unextiuguishable
in the limpid heart, with that faith
which walks the sombre gulf of scepti-
cism, with that hope which builds its
lofty nest amid the azure crags of the
farthest heaven, he kneels upon the
mighty throne of prayer, and throws
his loving arms upon the neck OF fallen
Man, paints on fancy's canvas PAN
Drama of his wickedness, and anchors
to his conscience the golden truths of
Holy Writ !; points, with the hand Of
prophecy, to that rayless night that
sweeps the starless waste of Times red
occident, and, with the lightning
tongue of inspiration, portrays the
happy Eden of the far invisible. He
beholds the ripened fruit Of his labor
in the lives ofmen, and hearts, attuned
to those loftier harmonies, trilled by
the ethereal choir. " Well done, thou
good and faithful servant!" =" is the
voice of Heaven and though exile in
a drifting isle of clay, his spirit is
borne alott by the angelic ones he
pointed thitherward "to roam the
starry and quiet dwellings ofthe blest."
This is the success of the soul-the
success Of successes-sublime, eternal.